Sticky Honey and Soy Pork Belly Bao Buns

Ingredients

• 600g pork belly slices, skin removed, cut into 3cm pieces
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 20g fresh root ginger, finely grated
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ tsp Chinese five-spice
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• ½ cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds scraped out, thinly sliced
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal, to serve
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced into rings, to serve
• 8 steamed bao buns, to serve
• 4 tbsp hoisin sauce, to serve
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, to serve
• 2 limes, cut into wedges, to serve
• Quick-pickled daikon (mooli), to serve
• Asian-style slaw (shredded red cabbage, carrot and rice wine vinegar dressing), to serve
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Method

1. Whisk the soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, grated garlic, ginger and five-spice in a bowl until glossy and combined. The vinegar is doing real work here — it cuts the honey and stops the glaze sliding into cloying.
2. Pat the pork belly pieces dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no caramelisation. Season generously with salt and pepper, tip into the marinade and toss to coat every side. Leave for 10 minutes while you sort the pickle.
3. Combine the cucumber with the rice wine vinegar, caster sugar, chilli flakes and a pinch of salt. Set aside for at least 10 minutes — it should taste sharp, sweet and gently fiery by the time you need it.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a wide, heavy-based stainless or cast-iron pan over a medium-high heat until shimmering. Non-stick won't give you the sticky brown bits this glaze is built on.
5. Lift the pork from the marinade with tongs, reserving the liquid, and lay the pieces in the pan in a single layer. Don't crowd it — work in two batches if your pan is small. All at once and the pan crowds, the meat steams in its own juices and you'll never get that lacquered crust. Sear for 3–4 minutes without moving until deeply caramelised on the underside, then turn.
6. Pour the reserved marinade into the pan with 60ml water, scraping up the sticky bits stuck to the base — that's pure flavour going back into the sauce. The garlic and ginger in the marinade only get going now; if you'd added them to dry oil they'd have burnt in 30 seconds and turned the whole dish bitter. Drop the heat to medium and cook for 12–15 minutes, turning the pork every couple of minutes, until the sauce has reduced to a thick, glossy glaze that clings to each piece and the pork is mahogany-dark at the edges.
7. Taste the glaze. Most of the salt comes from the soy, but check now — a final pinch of salt or a splash more vinegar ties it together. Adjust at the pan, not at the table.
8. Meanwhile, steam the bao buns according to the packet — usually 8–10 minutes, until pillowy, white and puffed.
9. Open each warm bun and spread the inside generously with hoisin sauce. Pile in two or three pieces of sticky pork, spoon over a little of that pan glaze, then add a tangle of pickled cucumber and a scatter of spring onions.
10. Finish each bun with red chilli rings and a shower of toasted sesame seeds. Bring the lime wedges, daikon and slaw to the table — a squeeze of lime over the pork right before the first bite cuts through the richness and lifts everything you've just built.